Pirate Favors: Captain's Logs and DIY Pirate Patches

So...last week, I found some awesome pirate hats to use for favors.  They were on sale BOGO free, and on clearance to boot, so I got them for about $2.50 apiece (originally $19.99 apiece).  Not bad!  But..since my goal is $3 per favor, I am going to have to get creative with the other things...

To make matters trickier,  I found these adorable notebooks in the clearance bin at Michael's a couple of weeks ago and couldn't resist. I also found pirate foam stickers and used a 50% off coupon to get them for around $3. Those will double as decor and a way to personalize the notebooks.   I can throw the extra ones in the treasure chest as more loot. The books were a dollar apiece...which means...I am already over budget.

But considering how fun those hats are, and how cute these "Captain's Log" notebooks will be, I am ok with it.  The hat will serve as the container for the favors, and the inside of the notebooks will be a great place to stick my signature, "Thanks for coming to Monkey's 6th birthday party" labels.

And besides, 3 dollars was mighty ambitious anyway.  However, since we do tend to have a houseful of kids, I am going to try to make the rest of the favors with stuff we have.  AND to make it FUN, I plan to get the girls involved.  HINT: Since I am planning way ahead, I have plenty of time to get creative and go back to the drawing board without having to give up one some of my ideas or go way over budget.

So, I still need pirate eye patches.  And the ones Monkey picked out were almost $2 apiece.  What's a girl to do?  Google it, of course.  A quick "Make Your Own Pirate Eye Patches" brought up this awesome how-to. To make Monkey fall in love with these more than the ones see saw online, I plan to bring out the glitter paint and gems- what can girl resist that?

A true planner knows that half the fun is in planning all the details, and making these with my girls will be a great lead up to the party.

The moral of the story:  Plan ahead; plan well ahead.  But don't be afraid to veer from your plans when something serendipitous comes along.  And always leave a little wiggle room in the budget for those awesome finds you just can't pass up!